In TOSSI (T1-insensitive Steady State Imaging), unequally spaced inversion pulses are placed throughout a low flip angle (FA) balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) or TrueFISP (True Fast Imaging With Steady State Precession) acquisition. These inversion pulses eliminate T1 contrast from bSSFP images of tissues by balancing the signal gained and lost via T1 relaxation in states parallel and anti-parallel to the main magnetic field. The resulting signal variations depend on T2 contrast.